This house did not originate as an octagon house, but rather as a small cottage built circa 1830, now incorporated into the present structure. Until 1857, it was owned by Alfred Iverson, Sr. (1798-1873), a native of Liberty County and Princeton-trained lawyer who later served in the House of Representatives and the U. S. Senate, and his wife, Julia, the daughter of Georgia governor and future U.S. Secretary of State John Forsyth.
The property was purchased by contractor and cabinetmaker Leander May in 1862. May added the octagonal front to the existing Iverson cottage, and then transformed the original structure into an octagon, creating a double octagon house. Neighbors found it it odd and dubbed it May’s Folly, or simply The Folly. Octagon houses were a short-lived Victorian craze that never fully caught on, making them rare as hens’ teeth today. The rear section was returned to a rectangular form at a later date, but a 1968 fire confirmed that May had made it octagonal, as well.
Though it is often claimed to be the only double octagon house in the nation, there are apparently a few others, depending on how the term is defined. Still, it is an exceedingly rare form, and it’s the only residential property afforded National Historic Landmark status in Columbus.
National Historic Landmark
What an imaginative concept! And a beautiful building! I am glad someone had the imagination (and the funds) to bring their vision to life. Even if it wasn’t “in line with mainstream ideas” of the time.
Those are the thinkers who really wind up making a difference, aren’t they?
There is a far plainer version in the Lake George subdivision in rural eastern Liberty County, just down the road a piece from where I live, a few miles north of the tiny (but historic!) town of Midway. I have ridden by it many times, wondering about its provenance.
Octagon houses are endlessly fascinating from the outside. I imagine there are so few of them because the interiors must be rather disorienting, from a floor-plan perspective. In other words, perhaps vanity and exotic appearance were the primary reasons they were built back in the Victorian era.
It would be interesting to see photos of modern -day versions. The most famous one, as you likely know, is Longwood, a huge an unfinished octagon mansion in Natchez, MS, started in 1860. It is quite magnificent and has such an interesting history.
Interesting, I really enjoyed the back story on this. Thank you!
Thomas Jefferson designed one a few years before this in Virginia
Indeed he did, long before the Victorian craze gave the form prominence.